Beta were very nice to deal with, did us a great price and were very helpful and professional with great communication.
Here's our new engine, sitting in the garage at home.
I was working when the engine was lifted into Ishtar, using a JCB at the club. Louise organised it, with the help of my father.
Our club JCB driver, 'Big ray' did a sterling job of lowering the 100Kg+ engine, gently, into the cabin.
Then she was in. Hopefully, when the propshaft, prop, bearing and so on arrived, the installation would go like a dream......
Meanwhile, there was plenty to get on with. The original Rudder 'shoe', which bolted on to the base of the skeg to support the rudder was made from 3mm stainless stell, and badly pitted. I bought 2 x 10mm 316 stainless plates from a local supplier and, with my father's help, set about welding a new one.
It looks fine. It became clear why the original was made in such thin steel, however, getting all of the angles right in 10mm steel was a pain. In 3mm, you could just bend it to shape. It took 3 visits to the boat, and as many wooden templates to get it right. I think it may last........
I blagged a piece of scrap hardwood from Graham, a mate refitting his boat. Lots of sanding and polishing and it looked like it would make a suitable mount to cover up the hole where the Bukh control panel used to be:
It's quite frightening. managing the project, you break the task down into subtasks, such as the mechanics of fitting the engine, electrics, pipes, running gear and so on. Each of these breaks down further, so, in the scheme of things, making and fitting the new control panel plate was a minor job, as was, say, fitting an air intake fan for the engine room.
The reality, once you break down the project in this way, and add up all of the time required, is completely different to what you originally guesstimate.
Anyway, another small job ticked off:
The day of the fit arrived. Our friend Vince was on hand, and he, together with my father and I, gently slid the engine onto it's new mountings.
Disaster. The front mounting fitted, but the rear was out by 20mm. No idea how that happened. Crouching in the cramped space behind the engine, I could see the engine installation slide, new feet welded up, a new date for fitting, and us missing our agreed launch date with the club. My heart sank.
Then a brainwave. All we had to do was cut the plate bolted to the engine to support the feet slightly and it would work. I was convinced it would. I discussed it with my father, and less than an hour later, we started tightening the engine mountings, ready to take final measuments of the prop shaft for cutting.
Not long after that, we set the workbench up, cut the shaft and fitted the flange. I was starting to feel hopeful.
Tired now, and with just the two of us, we finally slid the engine in, and set about checking the alignment with feeler guages.
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0.125mm torerance was converted into thousands of an inch. Gradually spinning the adjustable feet up and down, we achieved half the allowable tolerance. We'd check again once she was in the water and had run for an hour or so, but for now, job done.
